While there was quite a bit of talk in Republican circles earlier this year about impeaching judges, the chatter largely disappeared in recent months. Is Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio poised to bring it back? The Washington Times reported:
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said impeachment of judges who issue ‘stupid’ rulings thwarting President Trump is ‘on the table,’ though he said Congress needs to explore other options first. … Any impeachment proceedings would start in Mr. Jordan’s committee. He said that shouldn’t be the first option for judges who have foiled Mr. Trump or otherwise issued troubling rulings, but it’s ‘on the table’ as an eventual option.
The far-right Ohio Republican and Trump loyalist didn’t indicate plans to try to impeach jurists anytime soon, but he told the conservative newspaper, “I don’t think you should rule out impeachment.”
The trouble began in earnest in March, when the president, taking a step he hadn’t taken before, publicly and explicitly called for the impeachment of a federal judge who’d ruled in a way the White House didn’t like. Hours later, he sat down with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and kept the offensive going.
“[W]e have bad judges. We have very bad judges,” Trump said. “These are judges that shouldn’t be allowed. I think at a certain point you have to start looking at — what do you do when you have a rogue judge?”
There was, of course, no evidence in support of any of this rhetoric. Nevertheless, a group of congressional Republicans apparently interpreted Trump’s appeal as a directive and got to work introducing impeachment resolutions against judges who’ve ruled in ways the White House didn’t like.
Indeed, the list grew quickly. Over the course of a few weeks, GOP impeachment resolutions were filed against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates, U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell Jr., U.S. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang, and later, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer. (Technically, Engelmayer is facing two parallel impeachment measures simultaneously.)
Megadonor Elon Musk soon after joined the crusade, sending campaign donations to Republican members of Congress who supported impeaching federal judges. And now Jordan, who chairs the committee that handles judicial impeachments, told a conservative media outlet that he considers the radical tactic to be “on the table.” In April, a Marquette University Law School poll found that 70% of Americans opposed impeaching federal judges over anti-Trump rulings. There is, however, often a big gap between what the public wants and what Republican officials decide to do. Watch this space. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
